Second notice. The public universities of the Community of Madrid have approved this Thursday a joint message to the Government of the Community of Madrid led by Isabel Díaz Ayuso: either increase the transfers that the Executive has planned for next year to the centers or they will be seriously compromised their viability and the quality of the service they offer, support the cutbacks.
In an unprecedented measure, the Governing Councils of the six public campuses have simultaneously approved a statement in which they “express their deep concern about a situation in which the commitment and quality of their service is questioned, almost daily. public”, as he had anticipated The Country. The note, which this newspaper has been able to consult, is accompanied by an open letter to the president in which, in more direct and aggressive language, they ask for more money to simply survive or even to comply with the law.
The rectors demand that the president raise the annual nominative transfer to the universities by at least 4%, which is the amount that increases the general budget for Education, explain sources from the Conference of Rectors of Universities of Madrid (Cruma). The regional government currently contemplates an increase of 0.47%, according to the draft budget that has been published by the Community of Madrid. “The allocation for subsidies ignores the arguments that we have presented to the Ministry,” lament the rectors, who recall that “Madrid’s public universities have accumulated 15 years of underfinancing and a progressive reduction in income, with no signs of improvement.”
In any case, it is a figure for minimum survival: the rectors believe that they need an extra 200 million euros and this is how they have transferred it to the Community of Madrid
The six universities resign themselves to asking for now a “minimum” of 45 million euros more (that 4%) compared to the less than six extras – for six centers – that the regional government offers. In any case, the sources explain, it is a figure for minimum survival: the rectors believe that they need an extra 200 million euros and thus they have also transferred it to the Community.
University sources speak of a “very serious conflict” in the making and predict that there will be “legal actions” against “the Autonomous Community that finances its Public Universities the worst.” A few years ago, through this judicial route, the extraordinary income that has allowed universities to survive in recent years was earned.
An increase that does not cover anything
“The draft budget approved by the Government of the Community of Madrid does not contemplate the necessary transfers to face the impact of inflation on supplies, fully cover the salary increase agreed by the central Government, or finance the requirements of the new Law of Universities”, begins the letter that has been approved in the six public campuses this Thursday. “Nor does it include sufficient resources to guarantee the essential maintenance of the buildings, essential for their operation and safety in adequate conditions.”
The situation is desperate in the universities, the rectors say. The Community, responsible for approximately 80% of their financing, transfers less money to them today – in hard euros, not comparatively – than in 2009. With the aggravating factor that, since then, the CPI has risen more than 30% .
The open letter from the rectors speaks of a “critical situation”, “alarming”, “practically unsustainable”, “15 years of underfinancing”, “structural deficit” or “a setback in real terms for university financing”, and concludes: “Lack of investment seriously compromises the conditions necessary to ensure an adequate environment for teaching, learning and research.”
In an event held last April, the first in which the six rectors came together to raise their voices in a desperate cry about their situation, some of the top officials explained that “80% of the general income is going to pay chapter 1 (salaries). We use 15% to open the buildings, to turn on the heating. We have 5% left for everything else.” The Community’s financing, they claimed, “does not even cover personnel expenses” and the universities are facing structural expenses with extraordinary income. Until now they have been able to continue operating because they had money derived from a series of lawsuits against the Community of Madrid that were settled in their favor, but that is ending.
The richest, the one that invests the least
The rectors are gradually raising the tone of public protest against the Community of Madrid, perhaps realizing that doing so in private, the route chosen until now, has not had any effect. Madrid is the richest region in Spain, but also the one that invests the least per university student. It is the region with the highest public rates and also – by far – the one that most favors private offering: there are already 13 private centers and adding up, whether they have negative reports from the General Council of University Policy of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities or not . Virtually any proposal is approved in Madrid.
The president has never shied away from public confrontation with the campuses, especially the Complutense University. When Israel invaded the Gaza Strip, it criticized “the usual international movements on the left, which are now becoming strong in the university life of all cities.” He delved into this idea a few days ago, which cost him the reproach of the rector, Joaquín Goyache, and the entire Complutense community.
Problems accumulate on public campuses, the rectors insist. Added to this lack of structural financing is an increase in current spending due to the entry into force of the new university law, the LOSU, which contemplates a reduction in teaching loads – more teachers will be needed to teach the same class hours – and an attempt to reduce teaching precariousness – an effect that universities have had since the previous crisis in 2008. Principals do not guarantee that they can comply with the law without additional funds.
“In compliance with the LOSU, the teaching dedication of some categories of teachers has had to be reduced, without having been able to hire the number of teaching staff necessary to compensate for this reduction given the precarious economic situation described and the limitation of staff at the teaching rate. “replacement,” the public officials admit in their letter.
And they go on to explain that the Community not only does not increase the financing by the minimum amount required, but also that it has not wanted to take advantage of the plan by which the Ministry of Universities will finance the incorporation of 3,400 extra teachers throughout Spain. The regional government argued at the time that this plan obliges it to carry out certain contracts (800 among all the Autonomous Communities) and also to finance these positions once the contracts that the Universities are going to pay for end, within six years.
“Nothing has come to fruition in the Community of Madrid – nor has any other possible alternative been proposed to us – in such a way as to authorize this necessary growth in personnel and the future stabilization of their corresponding positions, as well as their financial endowment with total guarantee that its cost will not end up falling on the current depleted nominative subsidies of the Community of Madrid with which it is barely possible to pay 80% of the payroll of the staff of our public universities,” the leaders lament.
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